Two weeks ago, we discussed the cost of sin to ourselves and over those we lead (“How Much Does it Cost?”). Last week, we looked at David and talked about the forgiveness of God which covers the times when we do blow it (“Failure and Forgiveness”). This week, I’d like to take forgiveness a step further.
I think that many of us can accept the fact that God forgives us. It’s the primary message of the gospel after all. God sent His Son, Jesus, to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins – all of them! Unfortunately, the message of the gospel often gets relegated to that initial salvation experience when we acknowledge our sin and ask Jesus to ‘come into our hearts.’ From that point on, however, it sometimes feels like living out the Christian life is up to us. We accept God’s grace and forgiveness as enough to save us, but we don’t live in that power, believing that it’s enough to keep us and move us forward. Grace and forgiveness do not have a statute of limitations. They are enough. They are complete. They are all-inclusive and they are for the long haul.
Taking it a step further, however, how many of us are able to forgive ourselves? Let’s say that we are in leadership, we make some sinful choices because of our own brokenness, we experience consequences for our sin, those we lead also pay a high price because of the broken trust that they had us as their leader… Are we able to fall on the mercy of God and actually accept His forgiveness to the point of forgiving ourselves, or do we choose to live in judgement and punishment? Do we continue to live in shame and regret over our choices? Taking it even further, do we end up holding ourselves responsible for the choices that other people make in how they view us, respond to us, treat us or interact with us as a result of our failures?
It’s a hard line to walk, but when we come to a place of true repentance before God and our sin is fully owned; when we acknowledge the weight of our failure on ourselves, on others and before God; and when we turn from our sin and allow God to shine His light onto the broken places (which set us up for the sin to begin with); and when we allow Him to bring true healing…then the light is on and the sin no longer has any power.
Do we give repented and forgiven sin continued power over us? Do we choose to walk in the bondage of shame and condemnation when God’s heart is for us to walk in freedom? Do we step forward into our destiny, or do we continue to live in the shadows because of our past?
The enemy would like nothing more than for us to allow our history to determine our destiny. God does not look on us through the filter of our failures, however, He sees us through the completed work of the cross, as holy and blameless. Are we choosing to move forward into our destiny, or are we allowing the enemy to distract us and keep us held hostage to the failures in our history?
“It is for freedom that Christ set us free,” as Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” (Galatians 5:1 NIV and MSG)
